Finding the key to schemes innovation

Nicki Crabb

schemes development manager

Covéa Insurance

Scheme success is all about spotting new opportunities as they arise. We have a few schemes where the broker has been directly involved in that industry before and they’ve crossed over into insurance, so they have got a first hand understanding of the client’s business, how it works and the risks it faces. On those schemes the advice goes well beyond insurance and risk transfer and into the realms of risk management and business continuity planning. Technology, the use of AI and innovation will all be on the broker agenda this year and that all flows through to schemes. It’s about how brokers deliver that quicker service and making sure that we are more switched on as an industry to meet the needs of our clients.

 

Graham Whyatt

group head of affinity & SME

James Hallam

Use of technology, having client-facing websites, mobiles apps and other offerings are the keys to innovation in the schemes space. That’s on everyone’s radar and brokers are looking at different ways of serving the customer whether it is through online offerings or other platforms. Mobile apps are probably going to be the next big thing and building products to sit behind those. But you’ve got to have the right products. In the SME world if you don’t add value for the customer they may as well go direct. So while there are efficiencies to be gained by automating, we’re also creating our own bespoke products. We’ve consolidated our markets and within the space of six months launched exclusive and branded products with delegated underwriting and claims authority. And the bottom line is the customer gets paid quicker.

 

Damian Walsh

partner

TFP Schemes 

What a scheme must always aim to do is add value, not just cost, ultimately there is a cost factor because of the distribution chain, but you should look to offset as much of that as possible by the value you add. Scheme customers are looking for electronic solutions now - they don’t want to wait a couple of days to get a quote so there will generally be a larger upfront cost to get a scheme off the ground. 15 years ago you wouldn’t necessarily have needed that huge investment.

Technology provides you with a very easy way of completing hundreds of quotes an hour, that in the past, would have taken probably two weeks. Electronic solutions will provide the efficiency everybody now demands - it’s the world we live in where customers expect to be able to get an immediate response, so an online offering is almost a necessity.

With regard to apps, especially in the claims world, the feedback is that they haven’t initially been as successful as insurers had hoped, but that’s just a matter of time, as with everything else.

 

Scott Brown

managing director

Accelerate Underwriting

There are still a lot of pretty manual processes going on out there and a lot of these schemes are with traditional Lloyd’s brokers and done the traditional way, which is great for us because it means we’ve got an opportunity to go and sell our technology, which is what we aredoing. Once you show them they can do it in a different way, a lot of brokers are very interested because they start to see the benefits. Brokers need to be going out there and identifying the needs of the client and then we can help them then design a product that matches those needs. We can also help them in terms of delivering that product to the client and do it in a very cost efficient way.

 

John Price

chief operations officer

SchemeServe

The schemes that really harness technology well are the hot ones right now. Brokers know that to hit the sweet spot on schemes the cover has to be specifically tailored and marketed in the right way - that’s old news. The way to beating the competition now is in the delivery and service. Insurtech and an effective online quote and buy platform in particular, plays a key role here. We know from experience that what holds brokers back from embracing insurtech fully is largely misconception. As insurtech providers we need to do more to educate brokers of the benefits and dispel the myths. In due diligence, I once had a broker ask for evidence of how many fire extinguishers we have in our building and where they are located.  As a cloud based tech provider the mind boggles to begin to explain what’s wrong with that! Legacy and cost are other examples. Look at some reliable cloud based technology and none of these issues make innovation inaccessible.

 

Pat Brice

distribution director

CFC Underwriting

If you’re trying to buy insurance as part of a scheme you want to know exactly what the cover is, exactly how to buy it and you want to get it done really quickly and easily. Every stage of the process should be simple. The biggest theme from an innovation perspective at the moment is about how you use technology to make that really simple. 

I’m old enough to remember when everything was produced on paper and you had to have cover notes for everything and everything was produced in triplicate. A lot of the time the industry is still doing that. Brokers and insurers should be focusing all of their time on making sure every step of that process is as efficient and simple as possible.  Technology is the best way to get that done and that’s the big trend we are seeing at the moment… trying to streamline as many processes as possible.